SICK

Well yesterday we ended up at the doctors office, her temperature hit 101 and she just couldn't get to sleep (too much coughing). The doctor said that Katie has a cold that will just have to pass on its own so unfortunately we aren't doing too much better. She is able to take Benadryl which has helped her calm down and sleep for about 45 minutes, yep that's the longest nap we get! These two pictures I took today while Katie and I just sat in the recliner and watched cartoons. She's been extra snugly the past two days, which while cute, cuts down on the amount of cleaning and running around that I can do. I'm hoping that in the next few days life will begin to return to normal, I just want her to be able to sleep without coughing herself awake..... we all need some sleep here!

AAAGGGGHHHHH!!!!

Hi from Crazyville!!

Katie's sick and not sleeping so it has been an exciting past few days for our entire household. At first I was convinced that she had allergies, why not since Nat get's shots every three weeks to keep his head from exploding. The doctor agreed with me and put her on Zyrtec, well the Zyrtec dried out her nose a little bit but made her crazy too, throwing stuff at my face and not sleeping crazy. So Friday Nat and I decided to take her off of the Zyrtec and see how bad she really was; now she's sick. She has snot running down her face constantly, she can't sleep for more than 30 minutes at a time(coughing wakes her up), and from the "no sleep" policy she now has black circles under her eyes. Oh and the kicker, the doctor said to try Benadryl to help her sleep and she took it once and now refuses to take it again, she spits it right out! I even put some in water for her and she took one sip and threw her sippy cup on the floor and walked away.

She's too smart for me at 17 months!

Besides the homefront drama, my HSG went well. I was in and out within an hour and I have had no cramping or pain at all.

Ok well the 30 minute nap is over so I better go rescue my pathetic crying baby.......oh and if you were watching my monitor you would call it pathetic too!!

Weekend pictures

Katie with her Grandpa Burt.

Outside running down the sidewalk after Daddy.

This is what Katie looks like after a face plant on the sidewalk, her forehead and upper lip got a bit scratched up, but other than that it didn't bother her too much.

And we're back...

So we went back to Tumble Town today, I guess we had to check it out as a family! Of course it was a lot more crowded because it was Saturday, but Katie did alright with the "big kids" so everything went well. We stayed for about 45 minutes; we hit the usual suspects the trampoline, ball pit and play structure, and this time and Katie left with her thumb in her mouth, Nat wore her happy self out! Of course it's now an hour later and Katie is up in her crib not sleeping, in fact I'm currently watching her take her shirt off and wrap it around the back of her neck like a gym towel. I just wish I could figure this stage of life out because she's driving me nuts, she's tired....why won't she SLEEP!!! Ugh, anyhow it was fun to have the whole family there and Saturday must be Dad day because the place was chock full of them, maybe the Mom's were shopping?! Hope everyone is having a good weekend, maybe where you are it's warm........here's hoping that's us soon....

Are we nuts?????

I'm going to start with the meat and potatoes; Nat and I have made the decision to give IVF another shot.

I'll let that sink in for a minute.........oh and yes, we must out of our collective mind to want to do this again, I'm in full agreement with everyone that is currently shaking their heads. (Feel free to call us names too!!)

Nat and I have been back and forth with adoption or trying again, paperwork or needles, cost financially or cost physically. The discussion has been ongoing for about 2 months and shockingly I have been the hesitant one, the one that has had sleepless nights and the one that's not too sure about having a second child. I question the little things like, will I have enough time and energy for Katie and will me being sick, presumably, scar her for life? If only I could know that I won't get sick again I think I would be a bit more on board, the chances of the Hyperemesis coming back is right around 75%.

That's not too promising.

The current plan is to prepare for the worst and hope for the best. We have scheduled meetings with my OB to decide what to do if and when I get sick again and my fertility doctor is keeping my medication the same as before so at least I know what to expect. We are also looking in to full-time day care for Katie if/when I get pregnant because Nat and I both know that if my Hyperemesis returns I am barely able to care for myself.

It all comes down to our desire to have another one and somehow I do want to do it all again. Loving Katie has somehow cast a spell on me?! Sure in hindsight it was all worth it but even thinking about how sick I was almost makes me nauseous and yes, I have been having flashbacks. I know I will feel better after meeting with my OB and Nat is 110% on board with doing everything and anything to help me get through this again.
So here we go again, the long blogs at 3am, the bruises from bad shots and the numerous hospital visits (go back to March 2006 for reminders!!). I'm still not 100% ready for this but ready or not, here I come!!!

Next up, Monday a HSG; Google it because I'm not going into it and Tuesday our visit with Dr. Jackson for a planning session. Let the thrice weekly doctors visits begin!!

Oh and before I forget, my neighbor Kristin has been nice enough to watch Katie and volunteer to watch Katie in the future for all of these doctors appointments. (YOU ROCK!) Hopefully I will be able to take Katie with me to some and not have to use up all of my good favor in one month but am I ever thankful that I'm surrounded by people that are genuinely committed to my plight. Thanks in advance to everybody that helps, prays and keeps me in their thoughts.....you must know by now that they are needed and appreciated!

Tumble Town

Today Michelle and I took the girls to Tumble Town at the Galleria Mall. The secret to getting good alone play time is to show up right at 10am when the mall opens and stay until the big kids get there, they tend to steal toys!! We had a great time and the four of us were basically alone until the last ten minutes. Katie enjoyed the ball pit more than anything, and she kept running back to it when I would try and redirect her to a new toy. We did bounce on the trampoline and climb the play structure and slide down the slide, and she liked it all, they just didn't hold a candle to the ball pit.

In other news Katie decided to say her first two-word sentence today and it's a good one. If you have spent any time with Katie you know that she is fascinated by her belly button. It's an outie so it's always just popped out there waiting for her to play with, and today she lifted up her shirt and grabbed her button and said "Hi belly". She's done it now three times in the past hour. The girl loves that belly!

Update on some cute little ones.....

Addison is now all but 5 months old, how cute is she?! I used to think she was all Karen but now I see some Andrew peeking through. Whoever she favors she's a keeper!

This is Gabrielle, her mother Donna was my good friend when we lived in Texas. She and I actually had our little girls two weeks apart, Katie was 7 weeks early and Gabrielle was 3 weeks early. Guess the girls just wanted to come out!!!

Lauren is getting more adorable with every picture, look at that smile! Amy and I both say that this stage, Lauren is 6 weeks older than Kate, is so much fun. We love watching them discover and learn; apparently Lauren has really taken to coloring.....future artist??

This is Maddux, he's the big dude next door. He was 10 pounds 5 ounces at birth and has been off of the growth charts ever since, compared to Katie's shrimpy stature he's HUGE! At 6 months he is only 2.5 inches shorter and 4 pounds less than Katie; I see a sport with a ball in his future (basketball maybe?).

This is Tim, he Katie's international friend. His mother Astrid was an exchange student that lived at our house in 1994-95; she is now back home in Holland. Tim just turned 1 and is just a cute little blonde haired blue eyed guy!

E-I-E-I-O

I have been trying to get a good video of Katie singing Old McDonald Had A Farm for a while now, with no luck, I guess she's camera shy. Anyhow, today I finally had a bit of a break through, although she is normally a bit more enthusiastic about it. I'm going to keep working on getting a better video of it, E-I-E-I-O is a word to her and she uses it for everything. It's hilarious.

A Day at Grandma and Grandpa's..

Playing with an Easter gift that Mommy forgot about, whoops?!

Turning the lights on and off at Grandma and Grandpa Burts house.

Watching Mickey Mouse with Daddy while snuggling with the remote control.

Grandma Burt keeps this musical Christmas bag out just for Katie to play with, she goes right for it everytime.

Fundraising Time!!!!

The day we brought Katie home from the NICU at 4 lbs. 12 oz.






This year Katie and I will be participating in the March of Dimes March for Babies. As most of you probably know the March of Dimes is the primary source of funding for research and support in the quest to lower the premature birth rate here in the US. When Katie was born 7 weeks early Nat and I were both overwhelmed, confused and scared and we had so many questions , too many to remember. Our NICU nurses had given us books and pamphlets from the March of Dimes and suggested we get online, blog and research.

What a find!

I can still remember the feeling of relief billowing over me as I read accounts of other babies being born "too soon" and growing into perfectly happy and healthy little kids. It gave me the assurance that I would one day be a mother to a crazy, caught up, toddler and *poof* here we are, nutty and on track.

If you would like to join Katie and I for a leisurely 3 mile walk on April 27th we would love the company and if you would like to donate to our cause we would absolutely appreciate it. I have set up an online page to facilitate easy donating: http://www.marchforbabies.org/suziburt

Thanks in advance for your support and if you know someone else in your area doing the walk, thank them from us........

How does this happen.....

If you have ever watched Jon and Kate plus 8 than you know about camera frustration. On the old shows, she got a new camera this year for Christmas, she would constantly complain that her camera took the worst pictures and she hated when the kids did cute stuff and she had to take a picture because she knew she would get all excited for great pictures and end up with hazy, blurry, junk.

Well that's exactly how I have been feeling lately, every picture I take that looks so great on the camera monitor looks horrible and blurry on the computer. I feel like I'm missing so many great pictures that it just makes me crazy. AAgghh..

Then today for no apparent reason every single picture I took of Katie playing was gorgeous, the color was right, she had her eyes open and there were only two arms in the picture, I usually get double the arms with the blurry ones. I am beyond stunned, especially when you factor in the teething, crankiness and the fact that she hasn't been sleeping well.

I have somehow inadvertently stumbled onto the secret to perfect pictures, get to the point of total frustration with your camera that you swear that it is going in the garbage and at the last minute pull it back from it's demise; presto.

The perfect pictures..... Enjoy....

Random....

Don't remember what she was clapping for or about, but I'm thinking it might have been about a balloon.

I just wanted you all to see her big belly, so cute and round!

Chasing after a bouncy balloon, that her Grandparents Burt got for her. Nat and I have been playing with it for the past 24 hours and Katie thinks it's hilarious that we are so in to one of her toys!!

Wanna egg?

Happy Easter!!

Happy Easter!

Our next door neighbors had us over today for Easter dinner, which was fun and delicious. We still had some cake and balloons left over from the shower yesterday so we brought the dessert and entertainment. Maddux and Katie both loved the balloons, which made for some great photo ops, unfortunately my camera is on the fritz and only about 1 in 10 pictures turned out. Oh well you can see that Maddux loves it! I put Katie in a dress for dinner, which was a bit big, but cute; she really liked playing with the bow in her hair so it was in and out all day. All in all it was a really fun day, so fun in fact that it's 4:45pm and Katie is fast asleep in her crib which she has been in since 2:45pm.

NICE!!!!

Christy's Bridal Shower!

Today was Nat's sister Christy's bridal shower here at our house. Look at that pretty bride-to-be above, doesn't she look cute!!!

Aunt Christy and Katie catching a quick bonding moment.

The cake, look at all of that chocolate!!!
And yes we still have half of it sitting on the dining room table.

Can you tell that she loves the pillows....